


Perception Becomes Reality

by DaronwyK



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Soul Bond, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:14:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23789914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaronwyK/pseuds/DaronwyK
Summary: They destroyed the locket, but did they destroy him?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle
Comments: 30
Kudos: 113
Collections: Charms: 2020 Round Two





	Perception Becomes Reality

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [TheSlytherinCabal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSlytherinCabal/pseuds/TheSlytherinCabal) in the [DBQ2020Round2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DBQ2020Round2) collection. 



> Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me but are the property of J.K.R. and Warner Bros. No copyright infringement is intended. The theme for this round of the competition was Charms and my chosen pairing was Tom Riddle & Hermione Granger. Comments/Reviews are encouraged by The Slytherin Cabal's Admin Team on all stories in Death By Quill, but comments left by readers are set to be moderated by story authors until the end of the competition in order to protect participants' anonymity. Thank you to my beta for their time and help."

Hermione sat outside the tent, the cool night air helped to keep her alert. After Ron had abandoned them, it had been hard. Watch and Locket duty were now only split two ways instead of three. She knew that Harry hated asking her to take the locket, but more and more she wanted to give him a break from it. She could see the toll it took on her friend. The more time she spent with it around her neck, the more she came to understand it was more than just a Horcrux. It was bewitched with some long lasting charm, or more likely a combination of them.

These long nights outside the tent gave her time to try and puzzle it out. If it had just been a depressed mood, or flares of anger she might have been able to handle it. But along with all of that, came **him.** Tom Riddle. The young man who had eventually become Lord Voldemort. She’d asked Harry once if he heard the voice, and he’d just looked confused. It had stopped her from asking about the dreams. More worrying to her was the fact that she was seeing him in dreams, even when she wasn’t wearing the locket. The need to destroy it was great, because she was afraid that if they waited too long, she’d never be completely free of him.

_‘I don’t think you really want to be free of me. I’m the first person you’ve been able to have a truly intellectual conversation with, outside of your Professors.’_ A masculine chuckle reverberated through her mind. _‘It must be so dull, needing to explain everything to them, all the time, in the most simplistic terms possible. Half the time they still look at you with the dull expression of a bewitched krup.’_

‘They’re not that bad.’ Hermione winced a little. It was hard not to let herself laugh, his dark sarcasm appealed to her more than it should. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t engage with him again. Not after their last conversation.

_‘You’re far too kind to them. I told you the jealous twit would leave, and I was right. I’m right about all of it, and you know that too. The more time you spend alone with him, the more obvious it is. You know why Dumbledore is sending him to find all of the horcruxes. You know there’s only one end for him once he’s completed that task. You’ve worked it all out, and you’re just too much of a coward to say it.’_

‘I’m not a coward.’ She felt tears stinging her eyes. Oh, she hated him. Hated that he was right. There had to be a way to save Harry, she just needed to find it before things went too far and she couldn’t stop it. There just had to be.

_‘A fool then. You’re brave enough when you need to be, I suppose. Cold too, if the moment calls for it. There is no way to save him, or at least nothing you can do. My other self could, but he won’t. It would require emotions that he no longer has, things he happily sacrificed in his quest for immortality and power. It’s why the earliest of us are so much more alive than he is.’_

‘It’s more than that. You placed some kind of charm on the locket, I just can’t decide what it is.’ Hermione frowned, picking the locket up and tracing her finger along the edges of it.

_‘You’re a clever witch, but telling you would be cheating. Puzzles are always best when you solve them yourself. I’d hate to rob you of the afterglow, once you finally discover the truth.’_ His voice caressed certain words, making it sound mildly obscene.

‘Just one hint? To make it sporting. One charm, or several?’ she asked.

_‘Three, to be precise. One you know, one you could easily find with the access to the right books. The third, now that one you’ll have to hunt for. I do hope you figure it out. Wear me to bed tonight, and maybe I’ll give you another hint.’_

Hermione shivered a little, a memory of the last time she’d worn him - no **IT** \- to bed played across her mind in vivid sensory detail. It was just a memory. It wasn’t real.

_‘Perception is reality, Hermione. Surely you know that. Wear me to bed, you know you enjoy it as much as I do.’_

She knew she would, because he was right. Her awkward fumblings with Ron had always left her unsatisfied and vaguely disgusted, but Tom…it was entirely different. The first time she’d chalked it up to a dream, forbidden fantasies. But the voice had recounted it to her the next day, and she’d known it was more than that. Sometimes when she woke up, her body ached like the encounter had been real and not just a dream. She really couldn’t wait until they found a way to destroy this damned thing.

_‘Wanting to destroy me, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the side-benefits in the meantime. I’ll do that little thing with my tongue you like so much.’_ Tom tempted her.

‘This is the last time.’ It was a lie and they both knew it, but it was the right thing to say.

_‘It always is, until it isn’t.’_

* * *

The battle was over. Through some bizarre twist of fate and luck, they’d won. Voldemort was destroyed, and his followers were being rounded up and incarcerated by the dozens. She’d slipped away in the aftermath, telling her friends that she’d needed a little time alone. It had been easy to Apparate here, to her home. It was standing mostly empty, but it was still home. When she’d left to join Harry and fight the war, she’d shrunk down all of her possessions and put them into a special compartment in her beaded bag. She put her room back together first, before heading to have a shower. She needed to scrub the battle off her skin, and break through the nearly cement-like substance coating her hair and clothing. It was a strange combination of stone dust, sweat, and blood. It was difficult to remove, but three rounds of shampoo and the judicious use of a loofa managed it. She slipped into a long t-shirt and leaned against the vanity counter, trying to make sense of everything. On auto-pilot, she reached for her hairbrush and started to untangle the wet curls.

It was hard to put a finger on why she felt so wrong. Everything was as it should be. Harry had forgiven Ron, and she’d managed to force a smile and pretend for a while that she could too. They were friends again, the happy Golden Trio. Triumphant.

_‘A shame it’s a lie.’_

Hermione’s eyes widened as she dropped her hairbrush, eyes fixed on a second person in the mirror. Tom Riddle’s handsome face was there, his lithe form appeared to stand directly behind her. He was completely out of place in her ordinary muggle bathroom, simple black robes at odds with the white tile and powder blue wall paper. She wanted to turn around and see if it was real, but was too afraid. This was all in her head. It had to be. She hadn’t heard that voice or seen him in dreams since they’d destroyed the Locket. This couldn’t be real. It was just a hallucination, brought on by dehydration and magical exhaustion. It had to be.

_‘Did you ever figure out what Charms I placed on the locket, Hermione?’_ The image in the mirror brushed his lips along the delicate shell of her ear, as his hands settled possessively on her hips.

Hermione’s heart was hammering in her chest, because she could FEEL his touch. She had to be dreaming, passed out in her bedroom. Her head shook frantically and tears of pure terror welled up in her eyes. They had destroyed the horcruxes and killed Voldemort. He was dead, along with all the little pieces of himself that he’d scattered around.

_‘Shall I tell you? Now that I can see your expression so perfectly,’_ he asked.

“Yes.” After a struggle, she managed to find her voice enough to force out the single word.

_‘The first you guessed back in the tent, an Anguish charm. It would amplify buried pains and insecurities in anyone that wore the locket. A Compulsion charm would keep them from discarding it, sensible I’m sure you could agree.’_ He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, pulling her back against a firm chest. He pressed a kiss to her temple. _“In fairness, the last was something that you’d never have found in any book. It was a charm I designed myself, from bits and pieces I picked up after leaving Hogwarts. While that idiot Weasley destroyed the locket and the silver of my soul, the locket had already allowed my personality to transfer into you. It bound me to the most suitable host possible. Every conversation and every delicious illicit dream wove us tighter together. A soul bond. I am yours and you are mine. Forever now.’_

“No!” Hermione ripped away, tripping and falling against the bathroom wall. Her terror only intensified as she saw that he was actually there in the room. His voice hadn’t just been in her head. “How can I see you?”

“Perception is reality, sweet Hermione. To you I’m as real as that idiot boy who thinks he has your heart. Together, we will do extraordinary things. The harder you fight this, the more of yourself you will lose. I won’t lie though, a part of me really wants you to fight.” A wicked smile crossed his lips. “I wouldn’t recommend telling anyone; who would believe you? After all, even in the wizarding world, hearing voices and seeing things that aren’t there isn’t a terribly good sign.”

Hermione was shaking as he knelt down and placed his hands on her knees. His thumbs drew little circles on the bare skin, where her long t-shirt had ridden up her thighs in the fall. He leaned down and brushed a nearly chaste kiss across her lips.

“I know what you need, Hermione Granger. I can give it to you and so much more. Just say yes.” His fathomless blue eyes stared deep into hers. His hands stroked down her thighs, skimming over her skin. “He’ll never give you what you really crave, not like I can. He’ll never appreciate you for that exquisite mind, where I see it as your very best quality. Say yes.”

Hermione wanted to look away, but she was trapped in between his touch, his gaze, and the seductive shimmer of his power against hers. Sweet Merlin, it felt so good. She was so tired, her body ached from the long fight and the months on the run. She still hurt from Bellatrix’s torture more than a month ago and her injuries from the bank. She was so desperately tired and just wanted someone to look after her. She was so sick of being strong for everyone else. Tears slipped down her cheeks and Tom simply kissed them away.

“Let me look after you my brave, brilliant, little witch,” he murmured against her skin. Each endearment punctuated with another soft kiss.

“Yes.” She regretted it the moment the word slipped past her lips, but she didn’t have time to linger on it as he picked her up and carried her out of the bathroom. He took her down the hall to her childhood bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed.

“You’ve been through so much, been strong for so long, all on your own. I’ll take care of you now.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’re going to change the world together and isn’t that what you always wanted? Everyone will know your name and nothing will stand in our way. The most brilliant minds of the last century will shape this world into something truly incredible.”

“I’ll find a way to stop you,” she said, looking up at him. If he’d done this with a charm, she could undo it. There had to be a way.

“If anyone could, it would be you.” He smiled and moved back. He paused at the door and hit the light switch. “Sweet dreams.” The mocking tone of those last words hovered at the edge of her consciousness, even as exhaustion dragged her down into the blissful oblivion of sleep.


End file.
